Short Interest in AEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIDR) Drops By 34.7%

AEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIDR) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 3,031,762 shares, a drop of 34.7% from the May 14th total of 4,640,690 shares. Currently, 7.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 983,420 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AEye

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AEye by 685.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,573,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,896,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373,334 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in AEye by 1,836.8% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,394,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322,472 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in AEye in the 4th quarter valued at $1,460,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AEye by 819.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 676,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,685,000 after acquiring an additional 603,241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AEye by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 509,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $938,000 after acquiring an additional 114,958 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIDR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AEye in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AEye from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Craig Hallum assumed coverage on shares of AEye in a report on Friday, April 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $3.50 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.75.

AEye Stock Performance

LIDR traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $1.58. 390,598 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,981,903. AEye has a one year low of $0.71 and a one year high of $6.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.36 million, a P/E ratio of -1.39 and a beta of 2.75. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $1.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.94.

AEye (NASDAQ:LIDR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by ($0.04). AEye had a negative return on equity of 49.42% and a negative net margin of 12,698.89%.The company had revenue of $0.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.28 million.

About AEye

AEye, Inc is a technology company specializing in adaptive LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) systems designed to support advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous vehicles and other sensing applications. Through its intelligent detection and ranging (iDAR) platform, AEye integrates high-performance sensors with real-time data processing software to deliver customizable sensing ‘pipelines’ that prioritize relevant objects and environmental features. This approach enables longer detection ranges, higher resolution imagery and dynamic field-of-view adjustment, making AEye’s offerings well suited for complex driving environments and safety-critical scenarios.

The company’s core product suite centers on solid-state and hybrid LiDAR sensors that can be configured for a variety of end uses, including passenger vehicles, commercial trucks, robotics, mapping and defense.